The other day my friend, N, came over for dinner. She brought a bag of mint choco-chip cookies (diameter about 4inches) for the kids. My kids always get really excited when Aunty N brings along goodies for them. You see, N trained at Le Cordon Bleu Pastry school in France for about 6 months in between her jobs. And her cakes and cookies, are oh! so delicious and professionally made!!
So I asked N for the recipe. Somehow her cookies always taste different from the ones I normally bake. She told me about how the difference in time the pastry dough spends resting in the fridge has an impact on how the cookies turn out. She said that letting them rest just 24 hours in the fridge will yield the best tasting cookies. It has something to do with how the butter interacts with the flour, sugar, etc. Keeping it for 48 hours in the fridge will yield a slightly different texture to the cookies. And with our weather, 24 hours in the fridge is really necessary.
But you know something, I am the sort that cannot wait 24 or 48 hours just for some cookies. If I make them, I want to eat them that day!! So the longest my cookie dough ever stays in the fridge is probably 1 hour. So I guess you can guess how my cookies taste next to hers. But, its ok - my kids enjoy it nonetheless. Like the Chinese say - no fish, prawns will do too!
She also advised me that when searching for recipes on the net, I should always include the words "world's best" in my search. I tried doing that, but I find that most of the "world's best" recipes are too complex for me. Being an amateur baker, I don't have all the necessary equipment (and sometimes ingredients too) and its seems such a hassle to be setting up all that equipment, and not to say, all the dismantling and subsequent washing up, just to make a cake or a small batch of cookies. Mine are all made with my two hands, and lots of L-O-V-E!! As long as it turns out good enough, its good enough for me! As for searches, I always look for "idiot proof" recipes coz I am one of those that dont like disappointments in the kitchen!!
5 comments:
Agree with your thoughts. In my search, it's always the word, simple & delicious. Of course,a picture will give me a better idea how the final product look.
So it's true!?!? I sort of feel that resting the dough for a day or so truly changes the texture though I can't decide whether resting makes the taste better. LOL!
Whatever. Lotsa L-O-V-E is best! =D
Hahahah...I'm like you. Make it idiot proof...coz I don't like to waste!!!
I have never been trained like N but I am like N in that I like to bake or cook with perfection, so if I have to leave it in the fridge for 24 hours for the cookies to be perfect, I will. I cannot accept less than perfect. SO kiasu! hahaha..
When it comes to searching in the WWW, I usually just type in the name of the food and screen through all the search results. Usually I can tell from the ingredients, which recipes are good and which should be ignored. Heheh..
I like easy-to-follow recipes
which don't use many ingredients.
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